Abstract
In June 2012 a single non-native snakehead fish was captured by local officials in a small pond within an urban park in Burnaby, British Columbia. This single snakehead fish garnered significant attention in the local and national media. DNA analysis determined it to be a blotched snakehead (Channa maculata) or possibly a hybrid; a warm water species native to China and Vietnam which is commonly sold in the live food fish trade, and occasionally kept by hobbyists. By collecting prey items from the pond and snakehead specimens from fish markets we used a novel stable isotope approach to estimate how long it had been since the snakehead had been released into the pond. Using a diet-switching tissue turnover model, we estimated that the snakehead was in the pond between 33 and 93 days. Subsequently, provincial legislation was amended to ban all species of snakehead fish, as well as numerous other potentially invasive fish and invertebrate species.
Highlights
Invasive species are generally studied only after they have become established and spread (Zenni and Nuñez 2013), leaving an absence of studies focusing on the first phases of invasion: transport and introduction (Kolar and Lodge 2001)
We developed a novel application of stable isotopes to estimate how long the snakehead was in the pond
All specimens showed 100% sequence identity with the C. maculata reference sequences on BOLD
Summary
Invasive species are generally studied only after they have become established and spread (Zenni and Nuñez 2013), leaving an absence of studies focusing on the first phases of invasion: transport and introduction (Kolar and Lodge 2001). Further understanding of invasive pathways could be useful for preventing the release and establishment of species identified as emerging threats such as the snakehead group of fish (Family: Channidae) (Courtenay and Williams 2004; Herborg et al 2007).
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